Gang-frame attachment for driving harvesters from traction-engines.



A. H. SIEMBN. GANG FRAME ATTACHMENT FOR DRIVING HARVESTERS PROM TRACTION ENGINES. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 12, 1912.

AQZK WAJ- ALBERT H. SIEIEEN, GF APPEETON, MINNESOTA.

GANG-F ATTECEEENT FOR DRIVING HVE$ 1.... am

330M; TBAG-TEQN-ENGEJES.

Spa cifieatien of Letters Patent.

Patent Dec. 9i, Tedd;

Application filed June 12; 1912. smart. res-an;

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT H. SmrmN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Al; pleton, in the county of Swift and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Tmprovements'in Gang-Frame Attachments for Driving Traction-Engines; and I do hereby declare the following 'to be a full, clear, and exact} description. of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention has for itsobj eat to provide an improved so-called gang frame attach-- ment for coupling a plurality ofharvesters together and for driving the same from a traction engine, and to such ends, the invention consists of the novel devices and combi-' nations of devices hereinafter described and defined in the claims.

More particularly stated, my inventionhas for its object to provide a frame or at-- tachment for traction engines which will couple together a plurality of self-binding; harvesters, located one ahead of t e other and ofiset laterally, so that the series willcut a very wide swath, and which will de-- liver the bound bundles to a platform or bundle carriers. For instance, the attach-- ment illustrated is designed to couple to-- gether four harvesters, one ahead of the other with their cutting mechanism ofiset' laterally so that they will out a swath equal to the total capacity of the four machines,- to-wit, four times the width of that cut by one machine. The harvesters are thus offset very much after the manner of plows of a gang plow. The tanden coupling frame or attachment is mounted on caster wheels and it is pivoted to the rear axle or rear portion of the traction engine, and the several harvesters are coupled to the said frame in such way that they are free to adapt themselves: to the irregularities in the ground. The said harvesters are driven inthe usual way by' their own traction wheels and the traction engine is simply used to impart the advance movements to the harvesters and to keep the same coupled in ,pro er coiiperative relation in respect to each 0t er.

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate the invention, like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring to'the drawings, Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the inven- Harvesters from construction and 0 made up off a main bar dis osed bar 7 is shown as falling movements of spect to tion; and Fig, 2'is avertical section taken on the line w m on Fig. 1.

The traction engine may bel of the usual or any suitable construction and of the parts 1 thereof, it is only desirable for the purposes of this case. to note the frame 1, the rear axle 2, rear traction wheels 2, pivoted front or steerlng axle 3, and front wheels 4. A. push bar 5, which, as shown, has forwardly pro ectm'g. prongs, is pivotally connected at its rear end tothe rear portion of the frame 1. v the drawings, the four harvesters are indloated'as 'enti'reties by the numeral 6. The

ration of these selfbindingharvesters 15 well known, and detail description-thereof is not desirable for the purpose of'this case. v

The so-called gang frame, as shown, is p I 7, a plurality of transverse bars 8 and tie bars or'brac'es 9, 10, 11 and-'12. The front end of the main bar 7 is bent laterally toward the left to afford a transverse portion 7 This frame is, as shown, supported on four caster wheels 13, three of which are shown as applied to themain bar 7, and one of which is shown as applied to the intermediate transverse bar 8. These four casterwheels are so that they will support the said tandem frame for traveling movements in any direction The rear portion of'the main connected to the front ends of the. prongs of the joints 1% that permit independent rislng and the traction engine and of the said tandem frame. The front beams of the harvester frames are coupled, one to each of the transverse bars 8 and one to the transverse bar 7 by parallel links 15, which cause the said harvesters to partake of the angular-horizontal movements of the tandem frame, but permit the said harvesters to independentl move vertically in rethe said rame, to thereby adapt themselves It will thus be seen that the so-called tandem frame is pushed ahead by the traction engine, but that the harvesters are pulled from the said frame through the parallel-links'15. the so'-calied to irregularities inthe ground.

the said platform. These shock carriers may be of well known standard or any suitable construction.

The bundles from the four harvesters are delivered onto the common platform 16, by four.endless conveyers 18, 19, 20 and 21. The conveyer l8 delivers the bundles from the frontharvester onto the platform 16, the conveyer 19 delivers the bundles from thesecond harvester from the front onto the said platform 16, and conveyer 21 delivers the bundles from the rear harvester onto the said platform 16, and the conveyer 20 delivers the bundles from the harvester second from the rear onto the said conveyer 21, and by the latter, they are delivered onto the said platform 16. Conveyers 18, 19, 20 and 21 are adapted to run over suitable guide rollers on the tandem frame and on the framesof the harvesters, and each conveyer is adapted to be driven from the respective harvester in any suitable way, but, as shown, this is accomplished by rollerequipped shafts 22, journaled on the harvester frames and driven from one of the driven shafts 23 ofthe said harvester. The rear conveyer 21 extends oblique to the shaft 23 from which it is driven, and hence, is coupled thereto byintermeshing beveled gears 24. All of the .other conveyers are driven from the corresponding shafts 23 through sprockets and chain drives 25, but

the drives for the front and next to the rear conveyers also include a shaft 26 and intermeshing beveled gears 27.

In operating a rig of the character above described, one man of course,'will control the single'traction engine; one man on the platform 16 looks after the different sections of, the ;harvesting machines, walln'ng from one to theother on said platform where he can attend to the twine boxes, the oiling and like work; and two other men on the said platform standing, one near each shock carrier close to. where the bundlesdrop, pick up the bundles, place them in shocks upon the shock carriers and when the shocks have been properly accumulated, trip the shock carrier and cause the proper deposit of the shocks alon the'line of travel. Shock carriers can be uilt the same or approximately the same as standard bundle carriers but larger. Thus it will be seen that four men may control the complete rig and do all the manual work connected therewith, and the bundles are deposited in shocks instead of being distributed along the line of travel and thereafter shocked. Hence, there is a very great saving in manual labor and economv 1s efiected in the harvesting operation.-

f course, I do notli'mitmyselfto any particular number of harvesters thus'connected and pushed from a single traction englne. v g

The steering of the gang" frame and haraoeaeea vesters is accomplished by pushing the bar 5 forward and at the same time forcing its pivoted rear end laterally, much after the plan of pushing a two-wheel cart forward by its tongue. For instance, if the gang frame and harvesters are to be caused to turn toward the left, the traction engine will be turned slightly toward the right, while at the same time harvesting forward.

The so-called gang coupling frame is, of course, of quite large structure, and could not be hauled alon an ordinary roadway or over ordinary bridges if pushed straight ahead, but when the harvesters are disconnected therefrom, it may be hitched behind a traction engine and drawn obliquely, that is, its longest dimension which is parallel to the oblique of its main bar 7, trails behind the engine. The caster wheels will permit this traveling action and when the frame is thus drawn, it will pass anywhere that the traction engine will go.

What I claim is:

1. The combination with a tract-ion engine running gear and a push bar having its rear end pivotally connected to the rear portion of the frame thereof, of a gang coupling frame having connections to the frontend of said push bar for lateral angular adjustments therewith, caster wheels supporting said frame, and a plurality of harvesters connected to said gang frame in ofiset arrangement, one ahead of the other.

2. The combination with a traction engine running gear and a push bar having its rear end pivotally connected to the rear portion of the frame thereof, of a gang couplingframe having connections to the front end of said push bar for lateral angular adjustments therewith, caster wheels supporting said frame, a plurality of harvesters connected to said gang frame in offset arrangement, one ahead of the other, the said traction gang frame having an operators platform and conveyers delivering from the several harvesters to said platform, and a shock carrier attached to said gang frame adg'acent to said operators platform.

3. A traction gang frame of oblique elongated form having means for connecting a plurality of harvesters in offset arrangement one ahead of the other, said frame having the said frame to be moved forward with the harvesters attached thereto and adapting' the same to be moved in the direction of its oblique elon ation, are disconnected therefrom.

4; A traction gang frame of oblique elongated form havmg means for connecting a plurality of harvesters in ofi'set arrangement one ahead of the other, said frame having supporting caster wheels adapting the sald frame to be moved forward with the harvesters attached thereto and adapting the supporting caster wheels adapting" when the harvesters r cemes same to be moved in the direction of its In testimony whereof I afix my signature oblique elongation when the harvesters are in presence of two Witnesses.

disconnected therefrom, and a push bar piv- ALBERT H E otally connected to said gang frame and ex- 7 5 tended therefrom and adapted to be at- Witnesses:

tached to a traction engine, substantially as LEWis L. SmMEN, described. P. E. UOONNOR. 

